His name escaped Hikaru's lips before she had the chance to stop herself. She was at a loss for words. When Makoto told her that he hadn't joined them to bringing her to the hospital, she didn't even expect him to come. She was happy that he was here but she didn't know what to say or do.

And neither did he, it seemed. Rin was still standing at the doorway, head down and a shadow covering his eyes. He was still wearing his Samezuka track suit. Silence filled the room leaving only the footsteps of the nurses outside the room to be heard. Rin closed the door and stood at the doorway.

It took a couple of minutes but Hikaru finally told him the words she meant to say as soon as she saw him.

"I'm sorry."

Her words filled the air and Hikaru took a deep breath. Rin didn't have a reaction but Hikaru knew that she didn't regret saying them.

"I'm sorry?"

Hikaru almost jumped when she heard his voice. It was really low and sharp that it scared her.

"I'm sorry?" Rin looked up at her, glaring. "Do you think after all that had happened, you have the right to say sorry?"

"R-Rin, I…"

"Do you know how it felt for me to see you being brought out of the pool by Makoto? Do you know how helpless I felt?!" Rin asked her, voice rising. "I had no idea what happened to you. I had no idea what was wrong and I hated myself for not doing anything about it. I better hear an explanation or I'll…"

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd cry."

Rin looked at her, eyes widened. "God damnit, you too." He wiped away at his tears. "Did Sousuke tell you?"

"No, I was there when Sousuke told you about his shoulder injury." Hikaru said.

"You overheard."

"Yeah."

Rin looked away.

Hikaru pat the seat next to her bed. "Come, I'll explain everything. You deserve to know." She said.

Rin looked up at her and went over to sit down.

"It's completely my fault for waiting until now but I have to tell you." Hikaru took his hand. "I'm really truly sorry, Rin."

Rin looked over at her and nodded. "It's okay." He gave her a small smile.

Still grasping his hand, Hikaru started explaining.

"When I really liked an activity, he would always turn it into competitions and make me take lessons to the point that I didn't want to do it anymore. I really enjoyed swimming so I did all I could for him to not find out. But unfortunately, he did." Hikaru took a deep breath. "That's why, in secret, I would go and swim at Samezuka academy."

"Samezuka academy?"

"My father went there and he was the captain and he had kept the key for some reason, I don't know why. But anyways, he was very keen in having me train. I would have to go every night. Remember when you took me out for my birthday? Ya, I was supposed to go that night too. But I had brought a change of clothes and tried to be discreet about it." She let out a sigh. "He found out eventually."

Rin nodded.

"Days before the tournament, my body was starting to feel sore and I was worried that something bad might happen to me. I did want to not train for one night but he pestered me to go and I'm so afraid of him that I couldn't say no."

Rin clenched his fist.

"And then, that was it. Here we are today. I'm in a hospital and the doctors told me that I can't swim for a year. My body has to recover and with intense swimming, it could hurt my body again. So I'm going to avoid that." Hikaru said. "It's okay to me because I don't want to be a professional swimmer."

Rin looked at her. "What? But I thought…"

"This is another thing I should tell you."

Hikaru was interrupted by the door opening slightly. Her eyes widened when her father walked in.

"Hikaru…"

Rin immediately rose from the bed and went over to her father. He used both of his hands to grab his collar. "What makes you think you could come in here after what you did to her?!" He spat. "Forcing her to practice swimming?" He was clutching his collar so hard that his nails were digging into the palm of his hand.

"Rin, stop it!"

Rin ignored her "Don't you know that this could have gotten worse?!" He was so mad and father or not, Rin was going to make sure that his words got through her father's head.

Hiro Hazuki stayed silent. He looked over at his daughter. He hated seeing her in a hospital bed like that and knowing that he was the cause of it…

A silent tear fell down Hiro's face. "I'm sorry."

Rin's eyes widened and he let go of his collar.

Hiro looked over at his daughter. "I'm sorry." He repeated. "I didn't know that it would get this serious. I didn't…expect this to happen."

"Expect?! What did you expect to happen?" Rin shot back.

"I didn't want her to end up in the hospital."

"So why did you make her over train every single fucking day?" Rin's voice was low. "So she could be the swimmer you never were? So she could win trophies you never won?"

With everything Rin was saying, Hiro was feeling guiltier by the minute. And he felt he deserved it. He had nothing to say that could make this situation better. What he did was wrong and seeing his daughter in a hospital bed made it all worse. It made him remember when he hurt his shoulder and was never able to swim again.

"I like swimming with my friends for fun."

That's what she told him that night. But he didn't take into her feelings and forced her to do something she didn't want. He took a deep breath. "Hikaru, I'm sorry." He said again. He hoped his constant apologizes would make Hikaru forgive him.

"It's okay."

Hiro looked over at her. She had a small smile on her face.

"What?"

Hiro and Hikaru looked over at Rin who was clenching his fist.

"You're just going to forgive him like that?" Rin turned to her and matched her gaze. "He caused your body to shut down in the water. And if it wasn't for Makoto getting you out right away, something worse could have happened to you."

Hiro narrowed his eyes over at Rin. "You're making it seem like the blame is all on me. Why didn't you rush to get her out of the water?"

Rin clenched his fists.

"Stop arguing! I'm fine now. I'm alive and breathing well." Hikaru assured.

"No, you're not fine. You won't be able to swim for a year. You love swimming and I hate myself for taking that away from you." Hiro told her, tears spilling down his face. "I loved swimming too…and ever since the accident, I haven't been able to swim at all. And when I found out you were swimming, I wanted you to become the swimmer I wished I was. That's why I made you train so hard like that. I'm really sorry, Hikaru."

"I said its okay, dad."

Hiro looked up at his daughter. Those were the words he wanted to hear ever since he got into the room. She said them before and now she said them again.

"What you did to me was…well painful. But I'm okay now. I won't quit swimming. No, no." Hikaru smiled. "But I want you to stop making my decisions for me. I know what I want to do in the future."

Rin went over to her and sat down on the bed. He then grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers and waited for Hikaru to speak.

"I don't want to get scouted and be put on a professional team. To be honest, after what happened, I don't expect to be." Hikaru let out a little laugh. "I want to teach kids to swim. When I volunteered with Makoto at the swim club, I really enjoyed it. Ever since that day, I decided that I wanted to be a swimming instructor for kids." She looked down at her hands. "I know this might be wrong for me to say but…I'm…kind of glad…"

Rin's eyes widened.

"…I got hurt."

"WHAT?! How can you say that?!"

"Think about it, Rin. If I had won first place, I would have gotten to nationals and become a professional swimmer. Where as in here, I was able to say what I wanted to do in the future."

Rin nodded. "I…I guess so."

Hikaru leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm sorry for worrying you."

Rin smiled a bit and shook his head. "It's okay."

"Have you decided what school you want to go to?" Hiro asked, sitting down on her bed. After the tension in the room has lifted, he felt it was okay to go over and sit down next to her.

"Yeah, they have a program at a university in Tokyo."

"That's great." Hiro smiled. Then he turned to Rin. "I don't believe we've formally met. I'm Hiro Hazuki, Hikaru's father." He stretched out his left arm for Rin to shake.

"Rin Matsuoka." Rin smiled. "I've been dating your daughter for a year now."

"Nice to see that she met a nice guy." Hiro's smile disappeared. "But if you hurt her-"

Rin blinked. "I won't…sir"

Hiro raised a brow and laughed. "No need for that, Rin."

A nurse suddenly came into the room. "I'm sorry, the visiting hours are over."

Hiro stood up and kissed his daughter's head. "I'll come back to visit tomorrow after work."

"Okay, see you then!"

Hiro left the room.

The nurse looked at Rin.

Rin nodded. "Can I have just 5 more minutes?"

"I'm sorry, but…"

"Please?" Rin asked again.

The nurse nodded and smiled. "5 more minutes." Then she left the room.

"Hikaru, have I told you what I wanted to do in the future?"

"No."

"I want to go to Australia and ask to join the swim team."

"That's great." Hikaru smiled.

"But that means I'll live in Australia. You'll be in Tokyo. I don't want to do the long distance thing."

Hikaru smiled over at him and cupped his face with her right hand. "It'll only be for two years. That is how long my program is. Then I'll pack up and move to Australia to be with you. I even started to practice my English! I'm going to take a complementary course in university! I'm so excited to learn English! I know a little bit." She cleared her throat. "Hi, my name is Hazuki Hikaru." She was saying her words carefully and slowly. "How are you? Nice to meet you. I like swimming." She blushed of embarrassment. She wasn't really confident in her English and Rin was the first person to hear her speak another language.

Rin stayed silent after hearing her plans in the future.

"Rin?" Hikaru asked, worried. He didn't say anything after a while.

Rin finally hugged her. "You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah."

Rin smiled happily and then kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too."

The nurse interrupted their little moment by knocking on the door. "5 minutes is up."

"Oh sorry." Rin kissed her forehead. "I'll be back tomorrow."

"Okay." She smiled.

"Have you told your father about your plans?" Rin asked, standing up.

"No, I didn't yet. But I'll tell him tomorrow."

"And I'll be there to support you."

Hikaru grinned at him. "Sounds great."

With Rin having gone, the nurse did some tests before she went to bed. Hikaru didn't have to worry because everything was good. Hikaru got comfortable in bed and closed her eyes.

The nurse left the room and shut the door behind her leaving Hikaru to sleep.